BLOTTER: Fight over tiki huts leads to felony charge

Saturday

Oct 28, 2017 at 6:00 AM

staff report

DESTIN – A 64-year-old man, angered that a business allegedly dumped materials in front of his home, was charged with criminal mischief.

According to his Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office arrest report, the man called to complain about four wooden tiki huts, minus the thatching, which were lined up on the business’s easement with a For Sale sign near them.

When the deputy told the man the dispute was a civil matter, he became upset and ripped up the sign in front of the deputy.

He then yelled at the deputy to leave if he wasn’t going to help them.

As the deputy walked away, the man flipped the tiki huts into the road and started dragging them toward the business entrance.

The huts broke apart as he tried to move them. He showed no regard to the damage that was being done and attached a tow strap to some of the pieces to drag them into the road.

He then announced he was getting a hammer to break some of the pieces up further.

Later that day, the deputy was called out to the same address, this time by the business owner who advised that $6,000 worth of damage had been done to his tiki huts.

The suspect told the deputy that out of continued frustration, which was triggered by the material blocking delivery trucks from his address, he moved the “worthless material” out of the way.